N / A: This story is centered a few hours after Harry, Ron and Hermione went to Dumbledore's old office in Harry Potter and the deathly hallows, when the Weasley family along with Harry and Hermione go to The Burrow to try to sleep after the battle of Hogwarts.

PD: English is not my first language, so if there's any mistake then… Oops?

Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me.

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Ron couldn't sleep.

After having spent hours trying to help control the chaos at Hogwarts, the sad family returned to the Burrow to try to get some sleep.

His mom ran to her room sobbing as soon as they arrived and his father chased her, stopping for a second to ask them in a broken and muted voice to go to sleep.

Ron barely had time to exchange a look full of unsaid words with Hermione before Bill sent them all to their rooms. Although it was probably for the best, neither them were able to handle a deep conversation in that moment.

As soon as they reached his room, Harry collapsed on the temporary bed and fainted immediately.

Ron tried to imitate his friend, but he could only keep spinning in his bed, desperately trying to clear his mind just to fail thousands of times.

The fact that Hermione wasn't in the room only made it worse. During all their months in the tent, the trio felt the need to be together at night, it was the only way they felt safe. It was them against the world, and although the war was over, Ron still couldn't believe that they were no longer in danger, so the fact that Hermione did not sleep in the same room made him anxious. And he was sure that if Harry hadn't collapsed as soon as his head touched the pillow, he would feel the same way.

He tried to ignore Hermione's absence and the terrible events of that day, but after hours of trying to fall asleep, Ron let out a frustrated growl in a low voice and sat up on his bed. It was a cold and dark night, especially in his room that was terribly located, absorbing the frozen weather and humidity without any defense, but Ron didn't notice any of that, he wished his discomfort had a source as simple as that.

The young man looked with slight envy at the sleeping figure of his friend across the room, snoring softly in the dark. Then he remembered that the poor guy had literally returned from the dead that same day and every bit of his envy was immediately shaken out of his body like a wet dog.

He knew he couldn't compare his fatigue with Harry's, but he still couldn't understand how he was physically able to stay awake even though every fiber of his being begged him for rest. However, the problem wasn't his exhausted body, it was his damn head that he couldn't shut up. Dark thoughts reached him no matter how much he tried to stop them.

Just a few hours ago, he was still living in a tent with his friends, fearing for their lives and having a mission too big and dangerous to entrust to a group of teenagers.

Just a few hours ago, Voldemort was still to terrorizing everyone in the magical community.

Just a few hours ago, his brother was still alive.

Every time he closed his eyes, thousands of horrible images filled his head, causing him to shudder.

Everyone had seen many traumatic things that year, but nothing compared to that night. As much as I hated it, Ron knew that no one would ever be the same from that day on. Every drop of innocence that remained within them was cruelly squeezed.

So many people had died. He couldn't even assimilate it.

Colin Creevey, one of the kindest and most innocent people he had ever met. He was probably one of the people who least deserved to die in the entire world, but he did.

Lavender Brown, his ex-girlfriend. She was one of the hardest to believe. How was it possible that the girl he had been kissing so vividly just a year ago was already dead? A knot of guilt formed strongly in his stomach when he remembered how badly he had treated her while they were dating. He wished he could go back in time to erase his mistakes with her. He should've never dated her when he knew that he was in love with Hermione, but it was useless, his mistakes had already been made and she was already gone. Her rosy face, smiling and full of life was replaced in his memories by the last time he had seen her, incredibly pale and full of blood from the fierce Greyback's attack. A sick feeling of pride ran through him when he knew that at least it was he who had murdered the werewolf, he had avenged her. She was too young to die, but she did.

Fred.

Fred…

The redhead began to feel his eyes burn again for the thousandth time that day when he remembered his deceased brother.

Ron had been worried sick all the time he was away for fear that something might happen to his family, but he never really imagined that Fred was going to be the one to die. He worried about him, because they were in the middle of a war and he couldn't helped it, but Fred just felt so untouchable, too strong, brave and confident to die in the hands of a Death Eater.

But he did.

His brother was gone, leaving his whole family in ruins. George seemed to have lost the ability to express any kind of emotion, his parents were shattered, Percy was drowning in agony and guilt, Bill looked sadder than he had ever seen him before, Ginny could barely speak without her voice shaking, and Ron couldn't sleep.

He found himself obsessing about not remembering the last words his brother had said to him, he couldn't remember the last thing he had said to him, neither.

All he could remember at that moment was his last smile that left a trace on his lifeless body.

Losing the battle against his pain, Ron covered his face with his hands as he sobbed softly to try not to wake Harry.

He cried so long that his eyes already felt permanently swollen, his throat already ached from the lump that had been formed for hours and his entire body was shaking. Then, he heard the faint creak of the door, warning someone's arrival.

Ron sat up abruptly and breathed in gently when he saw that it was Hermione, peeking out the door timidly. His crying had been so long and so intense that the young witch could see his red eyes, swollen and full of tears even through the darkness. She frowned with concern, entered the room without hesitation, closing the door behind her and headed straight to him to wrap him in her arms.

Ron returned the hug without any resistance, holding her tightly and burying his face on her neck.

He felt overwhelmed at the feeling of Hermione. Her smell, her heat, the hoarse tone of her voice as she whispered words of comfort, her delicate hand stroking his hair with affection and their bodies fully intertwined without nerves, shame or fear. For the first time in the seven years they had known each other and three years in which they had loved each other without daring to do something about it, the teenagers held each other with their bare hearts completely open, tired of hiding what they felt and finally understanding that life was too much short to not be with the person they loved.

Suddenly, the squeaking of an old bed echoed softly through the small room, which meant that Harry was awake. Ron was still trying to gather some composure to apologize to his friend before he felt another pair of arms surrounding him.

Soon, the whole trio was crying in a group hug. Crying for all the bad experiences they had lived, for all the fear and pain they had felt, for the total loss of their innocence and for the fallen. All of them, in one way or another, were broken.

None of them knew how much time they spent like this, letting out everything they had endured for almost a year, but when they finally calmed down and ended the hug, they felt purified.

Without saying anything, Hermione grabbed Harry's mattress, placed it on the floor and expanded it magically, making it large enough for the three of them to sleep there.

The boys smiled at her and grabbed their pillows and sheets before taking their places on the mattress, since Hermione didn't have her own sheet or pillow, Ron extended his own to share with her, earning a blushing smile.

The friends lay down tightly, Harry took the right edge, lying on his side with one hand on Ron's shoulder, Ron was in the middle, with his left elbow resting on Harry's stomach and with his right arm completely surrounding Hermione who curled up on his chest and extended her arm along his body to grab Harry's forearm.

It wasn't an entirely comfortable position, the mattress was old so they could easily feel the springs under their backs, they were tight and they knew that if someone found them like that they would be ashamed, but that night, the trio of friends shared the most peaceful rest they'd had in many months.

They were three broken people, who together, felt complete.